Caravision’s Blog

…My trip to Seibersdorf’s Labs

Here at the IAEA much research is done to advance the peaceful applications of nuclear technology. Since we hear and write about these peaceful uses alot, IAEA interns took a field trip to SEIBERSDORF! Many parts were boring, however I was able to have some fun and learned a bit at the same time…So here we go, some highlights..

ITS RADIOACTIVE!

I liked this sign. Our first stop included a look into Plant Breeding and Genetics. This lab included many plants being produced through a process called “radiation induced mutation” NO THESE ARE NOT GMOS. It’s a “modern and competitive plant breeding program.” The basics are that they look at the evolution of the genes of a plant, and breed those plants who have the strongest type of genes. They use radiation to speed up the evolutionary process, like Darwin’s Natural Selection minus the time and the nature.

test tube babies!

baby plants

grow strong babies grow!

Breeding strong plants means less food shortage in the world. Amongst plants that are worked on are rice and bananas.  As explained “All efforts focus on improving yield and quality by enhancing diversification and adaptability of crops for domestic use as well as for export markets hence contributing to income generation and socio-economic development”

No Erika, No Bananas here

We later trekked to the greenhouse where there were some full grown plants.

all grown up..

Beauty

BANANAS full grown

Banana?

Hello? A possible new orange phone?!

And then came the STINKY/FUN part of the tour… The Insect Pest Control Lab! Fruit fly problem? NO PROBLEM just NUKE EM! This area breeds insects, seperates males from females, and “sterilizes” the males using radiation. IE they neuter them so they can’t breed. Once the strongest males have been sought out they are released into the wild to mate. Since females mate only once before death this eventually will lead to less bugs. NO PESTISIDES needed

The breeding area STUNK! They collect eggs, wait for them to turn to pupi, then let them have sex in a holding cell once they are full grown in order to get more eggs.

different types of fly eggs

since the place stunk so much….someone asked the guy what the smell reminded him of. “LIKE SEX” he answered LOL well i guess its the hormones from all those bugs mating.

smells like sex?

after the eggs have hatched, the pupi are stored for a while in soil (i think) they tend to jump alot. My fellow intern Erica captured it on tape…

We were shown the final destination of these flies before the males were seperated and nuked/neutured to be set off into the wild. Here the males were free to mate with females, the females layed their eggs within the screens.

Place le Fruit Fly

The man explained that this was a 5 star hotel for fruit flies. They get food, a place to stay and can have sex all they want. He also said once the males reach the “testing” stage in order to weed out the strongest to release, that they must choose males who are most “active” i.e. have sex more than 5 times a day! LOL what fun @ seibersdorf labs in Vienna at the IAEA.